Inspiring Grads: Law 1

Nolundi Luwaya

Job history

2019–Present Director Land and Accountability Research Centre at UCT

2017 - 2018 Researcher Centre for Law and Society at UCT

2016 Deputy Director Land and Accountability Research Centre at UCT

2013-2015 Programme Coordinator of Rural Women’s Action Research Programme Centre for Law and Society at UCT

2012 Junior Researcher Centre for Law and Society at UCT

Academic history

2018 LLM, UCT

2011 BA LLB, UCT

2008 BA (English, Law and Sociology), UCT

Describe your job – what do you do?

The Land and Accountability Research Centre (LARC) is based in the University of Cape Town’s Faculty of Law. The Centre combines research, litigation and advocacy in customary law in order to advance the struggles of South Africans living in the former homelands. LARC forms part of a collaborative network, constituted as the Alliance for Rural Democracy, which provides strategic support to struggles for the recognition and protection of rights in the former homeland areas of South Africa. An explicit concern of LARC is power relations, and the impact of national laws and policy in framing the balance of power within which rural women and men struggle for change at the local level.

As Director of the Centre, my role is to provide leadership and strategic direction to the Centre. Together with the LARC team I steward relationships with partner organisations and funders. I serve as the face of the organisation and work to build its public profile.

How have your degrees helped you to get where you are?

Having studied both law and sociology has been useful in getting me to where I am currently. These degrees have helped me to develop critical social research skills and the ability to work across disciplines.

What has been a highlight of your career so far?

The opportunity to work alongside amazing community activists who work tirelessly to advance the rights of their communities is a definite highlight. As is the chance to travel within our beautiful country and the opportunity to engage with a wide range of people and experiences.

What advice would you give to graduates that want to follow in your footsteps?

To stay curious. If we are not asking the hard questions and trying to find answers to those questions, then we are accepting the status quo and depriving ourselves of so much more. Staying curious keeps the questions coming and the quest for solutions alive.

What is the next thing you want to achieve and/or learn?

I would really like to grow my own vegetables, so that is something that I hope to learn about and hopefully achieve in the future. Professionally, there is always more to learn, and I am interested in learning more about research methodologies and how to get creative with those given what we are learning and have learnt from the restrictions we experience through the COVID-19 pandemic.

How do you see your industry evolving in the future?

The issues that we work on at LARC are quite niche and there is always a need for curious people who are interested in grappling with the socio-legal challenges faced by communities who practice systems of customary law. For as long as there is inequality in how people experience the impact of the law and the realisation of the Constitution there will be a need for people with skills and interests that cross disciplines.